Jaguar Land Rover and Gorillaz Seek New Engineering Talent via Alternate Reality

PR68983

WHITLEY, England, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

    - Jaguar Land Rover use new Gorillaz mixed reality app as innovative

      recruitment tool

    - App has a code-breaking challenge to test future engineering talent  

    - Successful game players will be fast-tracked through Jaguar Land Rover's

      recruitment process  

    - Global initiative aims to recruit more than 1,000 electronic and

      software engineers to Jaguar Land Rover's expanding business  

    - Jaguar Land Rover needs 5,000 recruits this year

    - Gorillaz guitarist Noodle is Jaguar's Formula E race team and STEM

      (science, technology, engineering and maths) Ambassador  

    - Watch film here https://youtu.be/DtYs8VkxNMg  

    Jaguar Land Rover and Gorillaz are working together to recruit the next

generation of world-class electronics and software engineering talent with a

code-breaking challenge found in the virtual band's app.

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    The best performers will be fast-tracked through the recruitment process,

helping to meet Jaguar Land Rover's ambition to employ thousands of bright new

talents over the next year. It's a major change in the way the business looks

for candidates, aiming to tackle the engineering skills gap and inspire and

attract a diverse range of talent and new thinking.

    Noodle, the band's guitarist and a Jaguar Land Rover ambassador, said: "Can

you crack the code? Put your skills to the test!! Hey, maybe you might land

yourself *the* most BADASS job you can imagine. Dare to win!"

    The Gorillaz App today launches a new Jaguar Land Rover recruitment area in

the form of a 360-environment situated in the garage of the band's home which

also features all the iconic vehicles from Gorillaz past. Here, applicants can

explore and take a two-part challenge. The first part, designed to educate

users about the benefits of electric vehicles, involves assembling the Jaguar

I-PACE Concept, Jaguar's first all-electric five-seater sports car. Users can

learn about the vehicle's performance, battery technology, space, charging and

range.

    The second and more demanding part of the game, developed to engage and

recruit budding electronic wizards and coders, will focus on cracking code in

Alternate Reality Game format (ARG). The challenge takes them on a series of

code breaking puzzles, that will test their curiosity, persistence, lateral

thinking and problem solving skills - all real world attributes of a new

generation of software and engineering talent.

    Alex Heslop, Head of Electrical Engineering, Jaguar Land Rover, said:

    "As the automotive industry transforms over the next decade, fuelled by

software innovation, we have to attract the best talent and that requires a

radical rethink of how we recruit. Here we've found an engaging way to recruit

a diverse talent pool in software systems, cyber systems, app development

and graphics performance. It wil l be the first of its kind."

    Davor Krvavac, Executive Creative Director, B-Reel London, said:

    "This exciting collaboration between Gorillaz and Jaguar Land Rover adds an

Alternative Reality Game layer to what is already a cutting edge mixed reality

mobile experience combining AR, VR and 360."

    The Jaguar I-TYPE, Panasonic Jaguar Racing's all-electric Formula E

racecar, appears in the garage. Users can click on a poster of Noodle with the

I-TYPE and 'FanBoost' which enables them to vote for the @JaguarRacing team

drivers to gain a power boost during their next race or to follow @JaguarRacing

twitter channels.

    The project follows on from Jaguar Land Rover's STEM initiative with

Gorillaz in 2016, where  founder member and female guitarist, Noodle, became

Jaguar's Formula E Racing Ambassador. As the UK's leading investor in research

and development and a leading global automotive manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover

is putting Noodle at the forefront of its campaign to address the skills gap

that manufacturing worldwide is facing.

    The company has used its debut season in Formula E to promote Jaguar Land

Rover's thought-leadership position as a business that is shaping the future to

solve the technology innovation and skills gap challenges.

    Interested applicants can download the Gorillaz App now at the iTunes App

Store (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gorillaz/id1217997478?mt=8) or Google

Play

(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Parlophone.Gorillaz&hl=en).  

    To find out more about Jaguar Land Rover recruitment, click here:

http://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com. For specific roles in Electrification

see:

http://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com/jlr-roles/product-creation/electrification

    Traditional application methods remain open and CVs will be accepted, but

Jaguar Land Rover invites potential applicants to download the app and break

the codes and solve the problems to fast-track their way into employment.

    About Jaguar Land Rover  

    - Jaguar Land Rover is the UK's largest automotive manufacturer, built

around two iconic British car brands: Land Rover, the world's leading

manufacturer of premium all-wheel- drive vehicles; and Jaguar, one of the

world's premier luxury sports saloon and sports car marques.

    - We employ more than 40,000 people globally and support around 240,000

more through our dealerships, suppliers and local businesses. Manufacturing is

centred in the UK, with additional plants in China, Brazil, India and Slovakia.

    - At Jaguar Land Rover we are driven by a desire to create class-leading

products that deliver great customer experiences. The largest investor in R&D

in the UK manufacturing sector, we have invested GBP12 billion in the last five

years and in the current year alone will spend over GBP3 billion on new product

creation and capital expenditure. In 2016 Jaguar Land Rover sold more than

583,000 vehicles in 136 countries, with more than 80 per cent of our vehicles

produced in the UK being sold abroad.

    About Gorillaz  

    Gorillaz is singer 2D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle and drummer

Russel Hobbs. Created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, their acclaimed

eponymous debut album was released in 2001. The BRIT and Grammy Award-winning

band's subsequent albums are Demon Days (2005), Plastic Beach (2010) and The

Fall (2011). A truly global phenomenon, Gorillaz have topped charts around the

world and toured the globe from San Diego to Syria, picking up hundreds of

millions of streams and record sales along the way. Gorillaz have achieved

success in entirely ground-breaking ways, winning numerous awards including the

coveted Jim Henson Creativity Honor and are recognised by The Guinness Book of

World Records as the planet's Most Successful Virtual Act. New album Humanz was

released to widespread critical acclaim last month, reaching #1 and #2 in the

U.S. and U.K. album charts respectively, and topping the iTunes chart in 60

plus countries around the world.

    About B-Reel

    B-Reel is a creative agency connecting modern brands and audiences through

innovations in storytelling and technology. With offices in New York, Los

Angeles, London, Stockholm, Barcelona and Berlin, B-Reel's clients include

Google, Facebook, American Express, Nickelodeon, Nike, Pernod Ricard, and B&O

Play.

    About the Gorillaz App

    A mixed reality app launched in April, the Gorillaz App invites the viewer

in to the weird and wonderful universe of The World's Most Successful Virtual

Band, for the very first time. Pushing the boundaries of technology, the app

allows fans to immerse themselves in the world of Gorillaz and join Murdoc, 2D,

Russel and Noodle at home in the Gorillaz House. Developed by Gorillaz and

B-Reel with support from Deutsche Telekom, the fully immersive mixed-reality

app is a unique blend of real world, AR, VR and 360 environments, using the

technology in a narrative context for the very first time.

    To celebrate the release of the new album Humanz, fans were invited - via

the app - to the Humanz House Party, an exclusive worldwide listening event

which will allowed fans to hear the new album as part of the largest ever geo

specific listening experience, bringing people together across 500 locations,

from Tokyo to Santiago.

    Source: Jaguar Land Rover